Which states require students to take Algebra II to graduate?
It’s always useful to learn from other states and how they run their education systems to see how we can improve ours. In this case, the guiding question is the following:
Which states, if any, have eliminated Algebra II from their required curriculum to graduate high school?
With help from Senator Romanchuk’s research team, we have the answer to this question. Only 12 out of the 50 U.S. states require Algebra II for high school graduation. This equates to only 24% of all states.
Clearly, this means that the vast majority of America doesn’t think Algebra II is a necessary and/or fundamental preparation for high school students before they graduate.
Better yet, it means that the proposal to scrap Algebra II from Ohio’s high school math requirement isn’t a revolutionary or controversial idea at all.
West Virginia — Math III STEM
In my conversations with Senator Romanchuk, we talked about how the main argument against this proposal is that given how important Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Design, and Mathematics education (STEAM) is, removing Algebra II could hinder America’s push to increase its skilled workforce and thus make it fall behind other countries.
This is a valid counterargument and is one that I’ll explore in detail in future articles because I think there’s a really interesting debate here — how important is STEAM education really? Are we too obsessed with it? — that deserves to be explored in detail.
But for now, I want to highlight an interesting aspect of West Virginia’s math requirements. Specifically, the option for kids to take Math III STEM to fulfill part of the math requirements for graduation.
I wasn’t able to find out what this course entails or what the syllabus looks like, so I don’t want to say too much yet (note: if there’s anyone from West Virginia reading this that knows more about Math III STEM, please contact me and/or leave a comment!).
But I think allowing kids to take a STEM-focused math course, whatever that might look like, instead of algebra is an interesting idea that could be a good compromise between keeping math in the high school curriculum while making it more relevant to 21st-century careers and adding more relevant courses to the syllabus.
What do you think?
How can I support this movement?
If you want to support the Math Reform Initiative, please write to your Senators, House Representatives, and Ohio Board of Education President. I made a few sample letters that you can use, just check out this link to find all that and more.
I’m the author of the books “You Say Soccer, I Say Football” and “Community Heroes: What a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA member taught me about community development”
